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Joan Rivers 1933-2014

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Popular night club comedienne Joan Rivers, shown in her Bel Air home, tells of her problems to get financial backing for her directorial effort, "Rabbit Test" in Los Angeles, April 14, 1978. The feature length movie is an extra black comedy about a man who flunks his test and winds up headed for a maternity ward.

Credit: Jeff Robbins/AP

Joan Rivers

British singer Tom Jones, center, blows out candles at a surprise birthday party at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, June 6, 1974. Guests include, from left to right, Joan Rivers, Sonny Bono, Jones, Debbie Reynolds, and Liberace.

Credit: AP

Joan Rivers

Comedienne Joan Rivers talks about her upcoming Broadway play, "Fun City," in New York City, Nov. 4, 1971. Rivers will star in the play, which she co-wrote.

Credit: AP

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers performing on The Carol Burnett Show, Sept. 25, 1970.

Credit: CBS

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers makes it quite clear - she?s starting a new syndicated talk show and its name is "The Joan Rivers Show," in Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1989

Credit: Nick Ut/AP

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers, right, talks with guest, first lady Nancy Reagan, during her appearance on "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers," on Fox TV, Oct. 30, 1986. The role of female talk-show hosts in late-night TV network history, all 50-plus years of it, can be summed up in two words: Joan Rivers. It takes just another two _ Arsenio Hall _ to do the same for minorities. There's no indication that's going to change in the latest round of musical chairs involving "Tonight" and "Late Night."

Credit: Reed Saxon/AP

Joan Rivers

Members attending the NBC affiliates meeting at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, Calif., June 2, 1987, don masks of Joan Rivers, poking fun at the demise of the entertainer from the late night talk show circuit.

Credit: Nick Ut/AP

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers' sole credit as a film director was the 1978 comedy "Rabbit Test," starring Billy Crystal as the world's first pregnant man.

Credit: Avco Embassy Pictures

Joan Rivers

New York Post columnist Joey Adams gets a birthday kiss from comedienne Joan Rivers at his 80th birthday celebration at the Helmsley Hotel in New York, Jan. 8, 1991.

Credit: Mark Phillips/AP

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers (left, with Miss Piggy) in "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984).

Credit: TriStar Pictures

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers provided voiceovers for several cartoons, including "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist," "Shrek 2," "Arthur" and "The Simpsons." But her most famous vocal performance was as Dot Matrix, the robot, in Mel Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs."

She repeated the character in the 2008 cartoon series based on the film.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Joan Rivers

Comedian Joan Rivers and Barry Diller, chairman of Fox Inc., arrive for news conference in Los Angeles to announce that she will host a live talk show on Fox Broadcasting Co. that will compete with late night king Johnny Carson, May 6, 1986. Miss Rivers will lead the attack for Fox Broadcasting Corp's new fourth network.

Joan Rivers

Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and turned Hollywood red carpets into danger zones for badly dressed celebrities, died Sept. 4, 2014. She was 81.

Credit: Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers visits "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center on February 15, 2013, in New York.

Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers is seen around Lincoln Center on Day 6 of Fall 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 14, 2012, in New York.

Credit: Stephen Loveki/Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Comedian Joan Rivers shares a laugh with Dave when she visits the Late Show with David Letterman, Feb. 26, 2013.

Credit: CBS

Joan Rivers

In 2003 Joan Rivers guest-starred on the TV series "Nip/Tuck" (pictured with Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh).

Credit: FX

Joan Rivers

Entertainer RuPaul, left, sings a number from his debut album "Supermodel of the World" with Joan Rivers during taping of her show in New York, July 28, 1993. The drag queen also discussed his soon-to-be released book "My Supermodel" on the show.

Credit: Jim Cooper/AP

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers speaks during the "Joan Knows Best" panel at the WE tv portion of the 2011 Winter TCA press tour held at the Langham Hotel on January 7, 2011, in Pasadena, California.

Credit: Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers attends the premiere of "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" at Angelika Film Center on May 26, 2010, in New York.

Credit: Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Comedian Joan Rivers, right, the subject of the documentary film "Joan Rivers -- A Piece of Work," poses for a photo with a fan on Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010.

Joan Rivers

Comedian Joan Rivers, left, and poker player Norm Zada are seen at Michael's Restaurant in New York on Monday, Aug. 17, 2009. Rivers recently went to millionaire Norm Zada's Los Angeles mansion to tape an episode of her new TV Land reality series, "How'd You Get So Rich." Zada surprised Rivers by flying into Manhattan and taking her to lunch and giving her a friendship ring.

Credit: AP Photo/PictureGroup, Brad Barket

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers, left, Katie Couric, center, and Hoda Kotb attend a party celebrating the premiere of Rivers' show "How'd You Get So Rich" on TV Land PRIME at Rivers' residence in New York on Monday, Aug. 3, 2009.

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers, winner of Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" show, appears on the NBC "Today" television program in New York's Rockefeller Center Monday, May 11, 2009.

Credit: AP Photo

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers participates in the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on Oxford Street on March 7, 2009, in Sydney, Australia.

Credit: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers looks at beads during the Krewe of Orpheus parade in the Uptown area of New Orleans Monday, Feb. 23, 2009.

Credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers and Robin Williams backstage at the Wimbledon Theatre after a charity performance in aid of the Prince's Trust charity, in London, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008. The event is one of a number to celebrate the Prince's 60th birthday on Nov. 14. Both Williams and Rivers took part in the show.

Credit: AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers arrives for the 11th annual Mark Twain Prize for Humor, honoring the late George Carlin, at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Nov. 10, 2008.

Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Joan Rivers

Larry King stands next to Joan Rivers at a party held by CNN celebrating King's fifty years of broadcasting, New York, April 18, 2007.

Credit: AP Photo/Stuart Ramson

Joan Rivers

If Joan had been there, she would have had much more to say about all this. But this is Joan Rivers impersonator Frank Marino, arriving at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards Dec. 4, 2006 in Las Vegas.

Credit: CBS

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers attend TV Guide's Launch of New Magazine at Home & Guest House on Oct. 11, 2005, in New York.

Credit: GETTY IMAGES/Thos Robinson

Joan Rivers

Tony-nominated actress and fashion maven, Joan Rivers, left, receives a key to the city by Miami Beach Mayor David Dermer at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach, Fla., March 25, 2004. Rivers was inducted into the Gleason's Walk of Stars.

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

From left to right, singer Adam Lambert, comedian Joan Rivers, television personality Kelly Osbourne, and television personality Melissa Rivers pose together at the "Glamorous By George" book launch in Los Angeles hosted by Joan and Melissa Rivers, Jan. 13, 2014.